The present invention relates to a heater system associated with an engine, and more particularly to a heater system for quickly warming the passenger compartment of an automobile driven by an engine.
FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings shows a conventional heater system for warming the passenger compartment of an automobile. The heater system operates by extracting cooling water from an engine 1 through hot water pipes 16 and circulating the water through a heater 30 composed of a heater core and a motor-driven blower for heating air and supplying the heated air into the passenger compartment. The heater system also includes defroster nozzles 32 coupled to the heater 30 and a control panel 31 electrically connected to the heater 30 to control the same.
There is also known a heater system which is independent of an engine and has a burner for combusting fuel to heat the passenger compartment with the generated heat.
In the heater system which utilizes the engine cooling water to warm the passenger compartment, the rate of temperature increase of the cooling water is so slow that it takes a certain time until the heater can discharge hot air. Therefore, the heater cannot perform its heating function during such a warm-up time.
The heater system which burns fuel independently of the engine requires a complex control mechanism for controlling the cycle of fuel combustion and a complex device for treating the exhaust gas. The heater system is therefore costly to manufacture, and also has the problem of environmental pollution.